Australian CEO arrested in China

An Australian businessmen has been arrested by Chinese police in the southern city of Guangzhou.

It is not known precisely when he was taken into custody or the exact nature of the allegations against him.

According to a statement on his company's website, Matthew Ng has been detained as part of a Chinese police inquiry into misappropriation of company assets.

Until his arrest, 44-year-old Mr Ng was chief executive officer of et-China, which offers travel services including inbound Chinese tourism to Australia and which has deep partnerships with a number of Chinese-government owned enterprises.

The company's acting CEO Chris Rose says Mr Ng has the board's support and looks forward to him returning to his duties.

"The board are supportive of Matthew and are seeking an early resolution of this matter to enable him to resume his role as chief executive officer as soon as possible," he said in a statement.

Mr Ng has now been in jail for more than a week.

The consulate-general in Guangzhou is providing assistance to his family in China.

Matthew Ng holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management at the University of New South Wales and two degrees from the University of Auckland.

According to the company's website, Mr Ng founded the firm in 2000 after working as an investment banker in Australia, New Zealand, and South-East Asia.

He recently won an AusTrade prize for entrepreneurship following the company's rapid growth.

Mr Ng's incarceration comes nine months after former Rio Tinto executive and Australian iron ore salesmen Stern Hu was sentenced to 11 years in jail.